Thought for the day: The only thing healthy curiosity kills is ignorance

Stephen Hawking

Published:19:17Sunday 15 February 2015

Share this article

Stephen Hawking once made this appeal to us all: be curious.

One of the most amazing thing about human beings is our ability to question, to learn and not always to accept the status quo.

So many major advances in technology and medicine and basic human understanding have come when someone decided to ask questions and look for answers.

Just take a moment to try and count up how many questions you have asked today? The answers informed your life in some way of that I’m sure.

Just think about the children you might have known who discover the word ‘why’ and then use it over and over again.

It should bring us all comfort to know that the next generation are just as curious about how and why the world works as we once were. Who knows what discoveries they will make through their curiosity.

It would seem there is only one area of life where asking ‘why’ is frowned upon, and that is religion and faith. Recent coverage of Stephen Fry hypothetically questioning god really upset a lot of people but religion has many questions to answer especially if it is causing harm to others or preventing mankind from moving forward with its amazing journey of discovery by preventing access to education.

There might be a few people who would offer the often misquoted and abridged line that begins, curiosity killed the cat, I would reply, in the words of the American magician Harry Lorayne: remember, where human beings are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity can kill is ignorance.